PG&E to Eliminate 450 Jobs

SAN FRANCISCO — PG&E Corporation and its subsidiary Pacific Gas and Electric Company will cut 450 jobs and plans to streamline management to reduce costs while keeping customer bills affordable.

“We are reducing support services costs in order to continue to invest in important safety initiatives and in modernizing our system to meet our customers’ future needs while keeping their bills as low as possible,” said Geisha Williams, President of Pacific Gas and Electric.

Williams will succeed Tony Earley as CEO and President of PG&E Corporation on March 1. Earley will continue to serve as Executive Chair of the Board. Nick Stavropoulos, currently President, Gas, of Pacific Gas and Electric Company, will become its President and COO on March 1.

PG&E plans to reduce the number of corporate officers by 15 percent, or eight positions. The streamlined management structure is part of a broader plan to reduce costs in 2017.

The majority of the cost reductions will come from reductions in spending on materials and contracts, renegotiating terms with vendors, and reducing expenses for professional services and discretionary expenses.

In addition, PG&E will eliminate approximately 450 support services jobs from more than a dozen functional areas across the company. The company has identified new roles for approximately 60 employees, meaning that approximately 390 employees will be affected. The company also eliminated the roles of approximately 800 non-employee contractors from across the company and will not fill 500 open, non-critical positions.

Over the past four years, the company has increased its workforce by about 3,000 positions in support of safety and other operational improvements.

“None of these decisions were made lightly,” said Williams. “We greatly value the contributions of all of our employees, contractors and vendors, all of whom have made important contributions to the business. We understand that these decisions create personal hardships. At the same time, we recognize our responsibility to invest in the future in order to create value for our customers, our communities and our state.”